“What do you do?” And I say, “I’m a web designer.” But, lately I am thinking that title just doesn’t cover it all. There doesn’t seem to be a title for people like me who do a bit of everything.

The real answer to the questions is “I’m a web designer, print designer, packaging designer, and digital artist that also consults in marketing and promotional efforts, as well as being fluent in ecommerce from website design to shipping to accounts and SEO.” There’s more, but eyes start to glaze over.

Web design and development

I design websites from concept to completion, and can take over at any stage of design and development. I have collaborated with some amazing designers, and have taken on projects alone. Whether it’s a site for a small business, a blog, a start-up, or even a 170+ product ecommerce website for international users, I can work with you.

My specialty is front-end web development (HTML, PHP, CSS, and jQuery plugins), but I work with some amazing back-end developers. Together, we can provide you with whatever you or your business could possibly need.

HTML email campaigns

From concept to design to coding, testing and delivery, and through to the marketing and analytics, I can help you reach the short-term and long-term goals of your email campaign.

Print design

I have been a print designer since 1990, starting out running two offset presses (Ryobi and AB Dick), silkscreen, and basic bindery.

Design support

I also pinch hit for designers, developers and agencies. Whether it is freelance, contract or part-time, on- or off-site, I can work with you and your team to complete the project. Previous off-site clients have been located in London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and St. Louis, to name a few.

SEO, Social Media, Marketing and more

I work with clients and agencies to set up easy ways to integrate your SEO and manage your social media channels. I can help you get up to speed with the Joneses, and off MySpace. I can help explain why no one is finding you when they do Google searches. It all seems like a ten lane highway going in three directions at once, and it is, but I can help you get it organized and manageable so that the time you should be in the gym (but aren’t) is all you need to manage your website and campaign.

Why should you hire me?

I don’t just open up a WordPress template, fill in the blanks and push it live for you. I’m not knocking those designers that work with WordPress exclusively, but thanks to the prevalence of WordPress websites and free blogging platforms like Blogspot, a client can often confuse web design today as push-button easy and something that can be done in a weekend for $150. A great deal of thought goes into a successful website where the purpose is to elevate your brand and/or sales, and that’s where I come in.

With my experience, you get web and print design that is flexible, useful, and always keeps the user in mind. I think about who uses it, and where they interact with it. I think about what happens when someone increases the text size in their browser. I think about how that 6-panel CD will look when opened half way. I also think about what’s missing from your message. And then I do something about it.

When you work with me, know that I am not afraid to say ‘no’ to Comic Sans typeface, ‘no’ to adding a picture of your granddaughter to your bank website, and ‘no’ to web copy that reads like an ancient textbook and is just as long.

Let’s get together and create something people want to interact with; something that will bring people closer to your brand. My email is tristan // ‘at’ // digitalmeaning // dot // co (yep, .co).

So, you have an iPad or iPad 2 and you want new backgrounds? I created a Photoshop template so that you can make your own backgrounds and not have to pay for them, or end up on some shady site that lured you there with the pretense of free iPad wallpapers.

Continue reading “Free iPad 2 background/wallpaper template and tutorial” post here »

To help prepare web design students for real world web design, Colleges and Universities today must offer courses focusing on User Experience and User Interface design. You can have a complete, functional and informative website without Flash, video, and even jQuery, but you cannot do without solid, logical user experience and user interface implemented.

Continue reading “How college and university ‘web design’ degrees are failing our students” post here »

WordPress is an excellent platform to create your website on, but it does have its shortcomings: security, speed, and data backup. With the addition of the following 4 plugins, your WordPress site will be faster, more secure, and have a complete backup copy stored away.

Continue reading “Top 4 plugins every WordPress website should use” post here » ]]> http://www.tristandenyer.com/blog/updating-your-website/top-4-plugins-every-wordpress-website-should-use/feed/ 0 http://www.tristandenyer.com/blog/jquery/using-jquery-to-duplicate-a-section-of-a-form-maintaining-accessibility/ http://www.tristandenyer.com/blog/jquery/using-jquery-to-duplicate-a-section-of-a-form-maintaining-accessibility/#comments Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:13:37 +0000 Tristan http://www.tristandenyer.com/blog/?p=36 UPDATE: This blog has migrated over to DigitalMeaning.co, my new partnership. This post will not be maintained. You can read the rest of the “Using jQuery to duplicate a section of a form, maintaining accessibility” post here »

I recently had a client who wanted to allow the user to dynamically add a section to their form. No problem, I thought. Then I noticed that the duplicated section was using the same name, id, and for attributes, which means that the resulting submission would not plug in nicely to the database.

Continue reading “Using jQuery to duplicate a section of a form, maintaining accessibility” post here »

I hear and read “SEO” in every website creative brief sent to me these days, and that is to be expected. But to make it the #1 priority AND the #1 task in updating an existing website is not where the focus should be.

Continue reading “Updating your website – before SEO” post here »

The flip side to that are the other businesses that realized brick and mortar needs to be replaced or backed up by an online presence. Your small business is 3 blocks from Main Street, and business is slow because no one can find you, or they think all that is out there is the animal shelter and where the street sweepers dump the leaves. Having a well-crafted web presence is like moving your brick and mortar store to the global Main Street.

Anyway, that’s where I come in. I understand your brick and mortar business and can help you with that well-crafted web presence without it dwarfing your business plan, or becoming that 300 pound gorilla you have to feed daily.

By the way, you can download the image you see here as an iPhone/iPod wallpaper—see it here. I created a handful of backgrounds for free download.